Fred, > > Beta-aether
> Either that or 3 K radiation. The two (CMB and B-A) ARE connected in a surprising way. > a velocity of about 325 meters per second at 1.3 KW/meter^2 solar or CF photon insolation. That translates to a significant Specific Impulse (isp). Yes. Although it is far less (6x less) than the Bridgman effect with water ice, which does NOT require thermal input. It would be interesting to compare apples-to-apples however. I do not have a clue about CO2 under Bridgman type pressures. Water ice does have one big advantage in regard to exploiting Casimir. When a water molecule freezes rapidly, it becomes a fully hydrogen-bonded structure with strong and straight hydrogen bonds (such as hexagonal ice) then it can only have four nearest neighbors, due to the angles of its near tetrahedral molecular hydrogen sites. This give an incredible amount of built-in strain, all "free" due to the Casimir effect on hydrogen bonds. IOW that is where the OU part could come in. In the liquid phase, molecules approach more closely due to the partial collapse of the tightly hydrogen bonded network. Closer neighbors mean higher density. As the temperature of liquid water increases, the continuing collapse of the hydrogen bonded network allows unbonded molecules to approach more closely so increasing the number of nearest neighbors. The maximum density of water is a most curious feature, as it occurs at 4 degrees C. Regular ice is lower density but there are many varieties of ice (yes the IS an Ice-9) where the density is higher than liquid water and these ices would not float. BTW, Ice-9 is 16 percent denser than water. Vonnegut was a little more thorough in his fantasy world than most of us thought....right? He at least had some of the physics down. If you cannot imagine the repercussions of what happens when ice sinks, then go to the library's Sci-Fi section and look under "V." This behavior is in contrast to normal liquids where the increasing kinetic energy of molecules and space available due to expansion, as the temperature is raised, means that it becomes less likely that molecules will be found closer to each other and the density always decreases with increasing temperature. Most of this is info is authoritative and derived from Martin Chaplin's website (the best place on the web to learn about water and its many quirks): http://www.sbu.ac.uk/water/index.html Anyway, the advantage of superchilled water is that you can get that high acceleration gradient, about 6 times higher than CO2 sublimation, courtesy of Casimir... and just by squirting it into a vacuum without any external heat being applied. You are not dependent on solar, so you could go wherever in the universe desired... if you could somehow avoid the problems of aging... Oh don't we wish for that. Jones
